The blog
Practical notes on reading with young children — read-aloud habits, choosing books for a beginning reader, and how Story Beaver is built.
Why we narrate every word, and what moves while it plays
A design note on Story Beaver: the narration is real speech timed to the page, the word being spoken lights up as it's said, tapping any word speaks it, and the art moves on the story's clock instead of its own.
Design notesHow to read aloud to a child who won't sit still
Wiggling is not a sign the story failed. Five adjustments that let a moving child keep listening, and how to tell when it is time to stop.
Read-aloudRoutinesHow to choose a picture book for a beginning reader
Age on the cover is a rough guide at best. Six things to look at instead when you're picking a book for a child who is just starting to read.
Choosing booksEarly readingWhat is phonics, and when should a child start learning it?
Phonics teaches the link between letters and the sounds they represent, so a child can work out a word they have never seen instead of memorizing it. Children can start the listening side of it at three or four, and formal instruction with letters usually begins in the first year of school.
Early readingPhonicsHow to choose a reading app for a 4-year-old
At four, a child cannot read menus or labels, so the app has to work for someone who only taps. What to look for, and how to test a reading app in about five minutes.
Choosing booksScreen timeHow long should storytime be for a 4-year-old?
About ten to fifteen minutes, which is one complete picture book. The signs that the length is right for your child, and what to change when storytime keeps running long.
Read-aloudRoutinesSight words vs phonics: which should you teach first?
Phonics gives a child a method that works on any word, while a small set of high-frequency words is worth learning as whole shapes because it appears on nearly every page and some of it cannot be sounded out. Here is the order to teach them in, and which words belong in each group.
PhonicsEarly readingRead-aloud apps vs printed books: what each is actually good for
A printed book and a read-aloud app are not competing versions of the same thing. Paper is better at shared reading, an app is better at the gaps, and most families end up wanting both.
Read-aloudScreen timeWhen your child wants the same book every night
Repetition is not a stall. What a child is doing on the tenth reading of the same book, how to keep it useful, and how to keep your own patience intact.
Read-aloudEarly readingHow many words should a 4-year-old know?
There is no exact number, and every figure that exists is an estimate with a wide margin around it. What a typical four-year-old understands, what actually grows vocabulary at this age, and what is worth watching instead of a count.
Language developmentEarly readingWhat to look for in a picture book for a 5-year-old
Five is the age of two readers in one child: the one who follows a story read aloud, and the one just starting to work out print. What to look at on the page before a book comes home.
Choosing booksEarly readingHow to read to two children of different ages at once
The book that suits a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old at the same time does not exist. What works instead: read for one child, give the other a job, and expect the little one to wander off.
Read-aloudSiblingsWhy your child reads a word on one page and not the next
A word that works on one page and not the next was usually being read from the picture, the rhyme or the sentence. Why that happens, how to tell whether a word has really stuck, and what makes it stick.
Early readingReading togetherAre screen-based books bad for young children?
Not in themselves, and not automatically. What a screen changes about a story, what it displaces, and why this is a decision families make with incomplete evidence.
Screen timeChoosing booksHelping a reluctant reader without turning reading into a lesson
A child who avoids books is usually avoiding the feeling of being checked. How to lower the stakes, what to let them read instead, and when reluctance is a question for a teacher or pediatrician.
Encouraging readingReluctant readers